Wii's Lost Game: Winter

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Exclusive: An atmospheric survival-horror title built just for Wii that never saw the light of day.

By Matt Casamassina

About two years ago, development studio n-Space (Call of Duty DS, Geist) showed us its then-in-development Wii-exclusive survival –horror game, Winter. The title, which seemed rooted in efforts like Silent Hill, stood out at the time for a couple reasons. First, it was a Wii project that dealt with a subject matter typically deemed mature by videogame standards: a dark storyline that revolved around an isolated heroine in the middle of a mysterious snowstorm, spooky backdrops and gruesome characters and, of course, violence. And second, it looked good, pushing Wii from a technical standpoint when so many third-parties treated the system with less respect than they did GameCube. Even today, it looks better than a lot of Wii games – impressive for a concept created so quickly by such a small team.

But for so many reasons that the developer talks about below, Winter was not to be -- not due to any major shortcomings on the game's part, but rather the restrictions imposed upon the Wii market by third-party publishers simply unwilling to take a gamble on a more traditional project. Today, IGN presents to you the first look at the in-limbo game complete with details about its origins and development from n-Space president Dan O'Leary and studio creative director Ted Newman, first-ever art, screenshots and direct-feed gameplay footage.

One of the creepy monsters in the game. IGN: What is the premise behind Winter?

Ted: The basic premise revolves around an unnatural snowstorm that has settled over a small town in the Midwest, effectively closing it off from the outside world. The main character, Mia, begins the game inside a wrecked ambulance with no recollection of how she got there. As she treks off towards the small town, she starts to see signs of something monstrous that is traveling with the storm.

At first the player is tasked with simply keeping Mia alive, and this involves sheltering her from the ever decreasing temperature and the rising level of snow. We wanted to challenge the player to think, "What would I do in this situation? Where would I go to get warm? How would I start a fire or create heat with limited resources?" Soon we learn that Mia has some connection to the storm itself and the creatures that begin to appear. Meanwhile the entire town is being transformed by snow and ice - doors that were previously accessible are now blocked, forcing her to climb through second story windows or walk on rooftops. The snowstorm is as big an enemy as anything in the game and ultimately we find out what IT is and why it is here.

IGN: How did the concept come about?

Ted: Winter started with Erick Dyke, our late President, wanting to take the survival horror genre and return it to its roots. Lately the genre seemed more about action and combat and less about actual "surviving." What could we do to take the genre back to basics while adding some new twists - and specifically what could we do to make this compelling on the Wii?

To check out Winter in action, click the video link above.

From there we talked about taking the setup of a single character alone in extreme circumstances, struggling to stay alive and adding another layer of survival on top. So what if it's really cold and getting colder by the minute? The company as a whole fell in love with this idea and immediately came up with all kinds of ways to keep a character warm - using the Wii controller to spark a fire and light some oily rags, finding the keys to an abandoned vehicle to start the engine and run the heater, or cutting open the belly of a dead creature and crawling inside - basically things we hadn't quite done in a game before. Immersing the player into the world was a big part of the experience for us, which is why we went with the direction of no HUD and lots of interaction. We planned to load the game up with as much real world interactivity as possible. If the player walks into a room and sees a whole set of drawers and cabinets, they should be able to search them all. If I'm fighting for my life, what in this room would I use as a weapon? I could grab the broomstick and beat things with it, but maybe it's better to break it first and stab creatures instead. This is the kind of choices we wanted to put in front of the player.

For all interactions, the Wii Remote and Nunchuck became extensions of the player's hands. To open a door, the player points at the handle with the Remote, pinches the A and B buttons, and pulls it open. If I'm worried about what's behind the door, I can pull it open slowly to peek inside first.

This wolf fight shows off the game's advanced lighting effects.

Each tool the player finds takes advantage of the unique nature of the Wii Controllers. For example, the flashlight will flicker at times, requiring players to tap the Wii Remote against their hands until it starts working properly. Other examples include a flare that needs to be cracked open with a sharp movement of the Remote, or a glowstick the player cracks and shakes in order to bring it to full intensity. Using simple gestures that make sense was a big part of our design.